Strand Century Axial Lekos

I think I said before that I "liberated" this fixture because the students kept hanging it upside down. The label on one side of the lens tube was affixed upside down at the factory. So much for quality control in 1979!

Until the SourceFour™ in 1994, this was my favorite line of ERSs. I still prefer its lamp alignment over all others: completely tool-less, every lamp change requires a peak-cosine adjustment, and the joystick is the simplest I've ever used. Strange that the Photometrics Handbook doesn't have the entire line of these--I wish I had the original cut sheets to send to Mr. Mumm.

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I hate those lights with a passion...there is no eaiser light to knock out of alignment, you sneeze and the thing needs to be benched. Not to mention the fact that if you happen to accidently unscrew the barrel knob to the lens train while in the air its next to impossible to get back in.

I hate those lights with a passion...there is no eaiser light to knock out of alignment, you sneeze and the thing needs to be benched. Not to mention the fact that if you happen to accidently unscrew the barrel knob to the lens train while in the air its next to impossible to get back in.

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I have a bunch of the Century Strand Axials in my inventory, and I have to disagree with you. First off they are probably the easiest lights to bench focus: play with the joystick and slide the lamp cap in and out Secondly, they essentially force to to bench them every time to change lamps, which you are supposed to do on any ERSfixture. In terms of lenses, sure, they are heavy, but unless the unit is pointing straight down they are not that hard to change, we do it all the time.

When these units are clean and benched they produce a nice even field that you can get nice and sharp. They can come very close to the output of a Source 4.

I hate those lights with a passion...there is no eaiser light to knock out of alignment, you sneeze and the thing needs to be benched. Not to mention the fact that if you happen to accidently unscrew the barrel knob to the lens train while in the air its next to impossible to get back in.

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The Colortrans allowed for better alignment (still the best design I've seen) as the lamp socket was mounted on a curved plate under spring tension that allowed the lamp to be adjusted down the axis of the fixture. Very useful for the FEL and EHG series when the manufacturing tolerances didn't have the filament aligned with the base.

I have a bunch of the Century Strand Axials in my inventory, and I have to disagree with you. First off they are probably the easiest lights to bench focus: play with the joystick and slide the lamp cap in and out Secondly, they essentially force to to bench them every time to change lamps, which you are supposed to do on any ERSfixture. In terms of lenses, sure, they are heavy, but unless the unit is pointing straight down they are not that hard to change, we do it all the time.
When these units are clean and benched they produce a nice even field that you can get nice and sharp. They can come very close to the output of a Source 4.

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These features are exactly what I don't like about them...the bolt for the slide cap continually loosens up and doesn't tighten down enough to keep the cap from sliding if you accidently bump it. The joystick, while great for posistioning during bench, is a pain in the neck to keep in place while tightening.

As for the lenses...that stupid little slidey piece of metal is what keeps you from putting the lens back in at anything greater than a 45 degree angle.

These features are exactly what I don't like about them...the bolt for the slide cap continually loosens up and doesn't tighten down enough to keep the cap from sliding if you accidently bump it. The joystick, while great for posistioning during bench, is a pain in the neck to keep in place while tightening.

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Maybe it is just me and my crew, but we don't seem to experience the problems you speak of, and we have over 50 of these instruments in active service. To each his own I suppose.

I plan to decommission a few each year as I have money to replace them, so many will probably stay in service for a few years unless someone makes some big donation or we have another huge running show like Les Mis last season. With money from Les Mis I was able to retire our entire inventory of Strand Century radials, replaced with Source 4's.